Zaanse Schans, Amsterdam & Utrecht

The last day of October, I started out to Holland and landed after a quick Copenhagen stopover in Amsterdam and found my way to the Motel One near the fairgrounds of RAI. 

Motel One

Next morning, I met Kathinka for a hearty breakfast and conversation on AIESEC Alumni “At Seven” - a great breakfast place on Scheldestraat. Later i got my rental car and drove to Hengelo where I had a client presentation on Friday. 

Utrecht Centraal

In the afternoon, I headed to Utrecht and stayed at Heidi’s place. We walked from her place to the city center to have dinner at “Raak” and enjoyed the lights of the city. 

On Saturday, we drove up to Zaanse Schans - an open air museum showcasing nice Dutch houses, windmills and workshops. We started with sandwiches and pancakes for breakfast before we started exploring the area. It’s all very neat, cosy and touristy. 

cosy houses

Wind mills

Nice little shops to buy souvenirs, bigger places where you can taste cheese, chocolate laboratory and the shoe (klompen) workshop. There they do a brief demonstration on how wooden shoes were made then and now with machines. After that, you will be longing like us to buy some of the nicely decorated shoes. 

shoe manufacturing process explained

wooden shoes - clomped

Half an hour drive by car and a short ferry ride, we made it to the beach at Bloemendaal. We strolled up and down on sand and shells and enjoyed later tea, coffee and cakes at San Blas. 

Beach at Bloemendaal

In Amsterdam, we visited the MoCo (Museum of Modern Contemporary Art) that held currently a Banksy exhibition as well as works by Icy & Sot, two Iranian artists and brothers who rebel against the Iranian censorship and oppression of the people and had to leave the country. 

MoCo Museum

Girl with balloon (Banksy)

Laugh now (Banksy)

Rebellion (Icy & Sot)

After a short photo shoot at the “I am sterdam” sign, we had tasty burgers and fries at “Cannibale Royale”. 

Delicious Burger - Yummy

On my last day, I left my luggage a the railway station and walked the streets and alleys of Utrecht. There are a lot of little shops where you can find all kinds of gifts.

Oudegracht

The St. Martin's Cathedral - the Dom Church of Utrecht - consist of two parts that have not been connected since a storm in the 17th century made the nave collapsed and it was never restored. Instead it's now a square with trees between today's cathedral (choir, transept) and the Dom tower. This landmark is the highest in the Netherlands with 112 m.

Dom

choir of the Dom

Dom Tower

 former chapter house - now belongs to the University of Utrecht

In the afternoon, I took the train back to Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.

Cairo: Pyramids, Egyptian Museum and Khal el Khalili

I travelled to Cairo by night train and had a compartment for myself - it arrived quite late, so I did not had to wait too long for early check-in at the Le Meridien.

Watania Sleep Train

From my balcony I had a great view of the pyramids, nonetheless in the afternoon I took a closer look at them and Sphinx.

View from my balcony

Three pyramids and 

a Sphinx

In the evening, I visited an old AIESEC friend - Lina and I worked at the International Congress 2005 in India together.

Last day in Cairo started with a big and fantastic breakfast on my balcony before I took a cab and the metro to the Egyptian museum.

tasty breakfast

There were a lot of artifacts, statues and mummies in the museum - also sometimes it looked more cluttered and forgotten in a corner than well curated.

Egyptian Museum - outside

Egyptian Museum - inside

Death mask

From the museum to the quietness of the Al-Azhar Mosque it was just a cab ride.

Al-Azhar 

Al-Azhar - court yard

Across from the mosque starts the Khan al-Khalili market and I had some food with other AIESECers there and then went up and down the market to shop for earrings and a lamp.

Khan al-Khalili

lamps

more lamps

Luxor

Sightseeing in Luxor meant even more temples, tombs and statues then any other place so far.

My guide picked me up at the ship and we headed over the bridge to the west bank where all the tombs and memorial temples are situated.

Colossi of Memnon

The first major temple we visited was the Memorial Temple of Queen Hatshepsut - the female pharaoh. The temple was carved on several levels in the mountain limestone cliff.

Queen Hatshepsut's Temple

colorful paintings inside

The next stop was the Valley of the Kings - where so far 63 tombs of pharaohs have been found. Not all of them are open and each tourist is allowed to enter only 3. The tombs have been robbed long time ago, floods did further damage and the biggest threat today are the tourists.

Tutankhamun was not a great pharaoh - ruling only nine years without any big victories and magnificent buildings. Even his tomb is not a very impressive one. What made it special at discovery was that it was nearly intact and that treasure hunters did not clear it out.

Valley of the Kings

Paintings inside the tombs

Sarkophag

scarab - another Egyptian symbol

We returned to the east bank and I had pigeon for lunch - not a very big feast.

pigeon lunch

View from the restaurant on Luxor Temple

In the afternoon, we visited two more temples - Karnak and Luxor Temple. As it was baking hot I was thankful to spend my remaining hours at the relaxing Steigenberger Hotel watching the waters of the Nile pass by and the sun to set.

Karnak Temple

Statue of Ramses II

Obelisk - one that remained in Egypt

Luxor Temple

Statue of Ramses II

Steigenberger Hotel

Sunset on Nile at Steigenberger

I left Luxor by night train to Cairo for the last part of my Egyptian adventure.